Mission Team

Thanks for all of your prayers for the mission team that came down earlier this month. We had a really great group of people, and it was exciting to see all of the work that we got done in the church in Cartago. This year's mission team consisted of six guys and one girl: Alex O'Neill from KS, Jeremy Cerone from NJ, Josh Swisher from PA, Jennifer Reed from PA, David Dennert from CA, Matthew Murray from IN, and myself. We spent most of our time fixing up the new Reformed Presbyterian Church building in Cartago, and we were also able to spend a lot of time with various members from the church. Here's some of the pictures from our group.

Primera Iglesia Reformada de Cartago (The First Reformed Church of Cartago)

Church at the new building.

Alex, Jeremy and Jen outside of the new building. It's right next to a washing machine repair store.

The church before we painted the walls and sanded the floor.

Most people in Costa Rica are obsessed with Michael Jackson. We ate at this restaurant one night, and they were playing Michael Jackson videos the whole time. The kids in my classes are always singing Michael Jackson songs in class and trying to dance like him, so I have to remind them multiple times a day that they need to wait till recess to do this.

Alex, Dave, and Josh working at the church.

One of the meals that we ate in Cartago: chicken, potato, and yuca soup with rice and an avocado on the side.

Alex outside of the church building (the gray building) after we finished painting it. The church building is a little small, but it has a great location on the main bus route.

Moving stuff from the old church to the new church.

Dave sanding the church floor.

Putting stuco on the walls.

Waiting for Sunday School to start the first week in the new building.

We went to see the new Transformers movie one night, and while we were there we saw this group of people dressed up for Harry Potter release. Jeremy, Dave, and I couldn't resist taking a picture with them.

We took a day away to Playa Herradura on the pacific coast.

Playing basketball in Cartago.

The winning team.

Eating lunch at Richard and Andrea's house in Cipresses. Esteban had fun telling us jokes in Spanish. I tried translating, but sometimes humor just doesn't translate.

Outside of the market in Cartago.